Not all firms want to be big. Not all firms want to be a Kirkland & Ellis or a Clifford Chance. Some want to be ‘just right’: Profitable. Nimble. Culturally cohesive. And, crucially, in control.
You want to be big enough to handle the big deals, but small enough to be ‘one firm’, as a CEO of a mid-tier firm told me recently. It’s about being able to do what you want to do without having to negotiate the oppressive political machinery typical of many Big Law firms. And 300-partner U.K. law alternative firm Gunnercooke epitomises this ability to be its own master in making big moves.
